The newest craze

I'm not one for following the crowd...or buying into the latest fad...but I have to admit that when I read about this newest craze over the weekend, it was just up my alley...

Introducing the "shelfie"!

As explained in the WSJ Weekend article, this photo sharing phenomenon is replacing the selfie as the way to demonstrate who you are...

I never cared for the selfie...only took one when I had to for the first Beyond Layers course...

But this idea of expressing yourself through sharing what you have on your shelves...bingo! lightbulb moment!

As I discovered as I posted a couple of shots on Instagram, this idea resonates with others...so for the month of May, I'm going to post a shelfie everyday on Instagram...and I invite all of you to join in...

I've been using Instagram to record my artistic musings...I love that its quick, fast and visual... 
I hope that you'll follow along...
fourcornersdesign, with hashtag #shelfieaday

tag me so I know that you've joined in the fun...I can't wait to see what's on your shelf!


Also joining up with Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday...there might be one or two shelfie geeks in that group...

edited with kk texture 1612 - saturation at 100%

the ABCs of Style & Simplicity

It finally arrived this week...
and I had to stop what I was doing, break open the packaging and immediately immerse myself in it...

hot off the presses...Style & Simplicity by Ted Kennedy Watson

I've known Ted for over 15 years...and have witnessed firsthand how he has become a style star...with his combination of spot-on design sense mixed with a healthy dose of graciousness and a generous laugh...

This first book (because I know there will be more!) demonstrates how easy it is to have a sense of style...
from A to Z...

As I read through the book, I kept nodding my head in agreement...and to demonstrate his alphabetical approach, 
I created, in a matter of minutes, one such vignette...

A is for Art...and Apothecary Jars
B is for Birds...and Branches
C is for Candles...and Collections

E is for... Easy -  you need to get the book for yourself...and discover how easy it is to inject your own sense of style into your everyday life...and find the beauty in that simplicity...



















Want your own copy? (yes, you do!)    available at both Watson Kennedy retail stores in Seattle 
and online at www.watsonkennedy.com  

Linking up with Kim Klassen's Friday Finds...because this is, by far, my favorite find of the week!

Happy Earth Day

Nature always gets it right...I recently read that in a design book...how true...

Let's take today to remember that thought...

and my other favorite nature quote...

"In wildness is the preservation of the world."   Henry David Thoreau

Linking up to Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday...where the theme is "simple"
perfect for today...

I used kk texture simple for the nest photos and kk texture return for the lavender 

Pay It Forward

Art is all about sharing as far as I'm concerned...sharing thoughts, ideas, viewpoints...and in this case, the actual art...check out this idea...

Pay It Forward Art-making Project for 2014

I'm participating in this art share project - I promise to make a small work of art for the first five people who comment on this post and say "YES, I want in".  A 'like' alone is not enough of a commitment, nor is a comment about thinking this is a great idea...you need to sign on completely to participate...and in the end, increase your stash of original art five-fold!

You must in turn post the rules and make something for the first five who comment on your post...

The rules are simple:

– It has to be your work, made by you, and the recipient must receive it before 2014 ends.
– It can be anything art-based: a drawing/illustration or a conceptual work of art, a photograph, a knitted item, cross-stitch, paper maché – or anything in-between.

I'm paying this forward thanks to John Arbuckle.  I've admired John's collage work and now I'm excited that I'll be getting a piece of original art from him...

PS. It doesn't matter if you aren't an artist, just want to try something out, google/ YouTube how to make stuff, step out of those boundaries...the sky's the limit...

Step 1  

Copy & Paste this as your latest entry on your favorite social website (in my case, it’s this blog).
 
Step 2   

For the first five people who comment on this blog post saying they want to participate, you will do an art trade with them that must be completed by December 31, 2014.  I would count as the first person so technically you only need another four. If you find your friends are keen you can do as many as you want.

Step 3   All forms of art count including creative writing, photography, digital -- anything goes!

so the First Five...GO!

Eureka strikes again!

A couple of months ago I wrote about the anticipation of spring...and shared my "eureka moment" of putting a rusty mattress spring on top of a jar to give support for blooming tulips...

Anticipation waned as the bulbs shot up their green sprouts...and then withered to brown.  For those of you who know me...I don't have a green thumb...try as I might, I have a hard time getting green stuff to grow...except moss...easy since I live in the Pacific NW...

I finally had to give it up...threw the tulip bulbs in the back of the garden and washed out the jar...and then...eureka again!

The rusty spring is the perfect flower support...with just a few stems, it holds the bouquet upright...

Stems can be any length since the winding of the spring offers support from high to low...which was ideal since I have just the beginnings of blooms in the garden, many of them with short stems...

Joining the group over at Kim Klassen's Friday Finds...

and Funky Junk Interiors Salvaged Junk Party...

and wishing all of you a happy easter weekend!

perfectly imperfect

While cleaning up the garden over the weekend...and trimming back the climbing hydrangea...I took a moment to look at the dried stems remaining from last summer...left to wither on the vine over the winter...there was a delicateness to them...as well as a sturdiness...

One of the blogs I follow, JillRuth, started a discussion last week about love of decay...decaying plants, decaying buildings, decaying whatever...there is something intrinsically interesting about the process of breaking down...rather than the process of growing up...and so...I plucked a few of the decaying flowers...and added them to my collection of amber bottles (one with a decaying label!) and was inspired...

My Saw Palmetto bottle is one of my favorites...there is a huge chip on the lip...
that's probably why it was the last remaining bottle at an estate sale...
with a discounted price...
I snatched it up...

Someone else who honors the process of decay...Mary Jo Hoffman...her blog, STILL features the most amazing photographs...focusing on detritus, that for the most part, she finds on her daily walks...

I am content with what I find in my yard...combined with my imperfect treasures...

Today's theme over at Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday is "perfectly imperfect"...I am sure there will be many wonderful images...all perfect to admire...

all photos edited with kk texture warm whisper plus dear dreamer & sonnet 2

Spring Cleaning

I know it is spring now because the tulips are coming up...and though I wish it was a little warmer, I have bid adieu to winter...and have begun to lighten up with a little spring cleaning...

In the process, I decided that my Etsy shop needed a little spring cleaning...and a bit of lightening up...so starting today, I am having a SALE at my shop on my mixed-media medley boxes and my vintage tin collages...all of them are one of a kind...so when they are gone, they're gone!

In addition...I have added 6 new card designs...and one new variety set...4 flat notecards with a different design on each card...I feel that my photographic collages on these cards reflect the lighter mood of the season...

And I have permanently reduced the price of my 4 card sets to $6!  That's a 20% savings to you!

So hop on over - click here
see what you like...place your order...
and if you let me know that you read my blog, I'll include a bonus gift for you...

Art Party - Recycled Book Journals

I have a thing about books...old books in particular...and its not necessarily about the content of the book...
but rather the composite parts...

That's why my Recycled Book Journal Art Party promises to be one of my favorites...taking the composite pieces and re-configuring them into a new creation...

Using the covers from a well-loved book, I take you through the steps of creating a journal, comprised of both new and recycled pages, and bound with a steel paper fastener...

And then you'll have time and a wealth of resources to embellish your book however you desire...













Since its an Art Party, you have no worry of what supplies to bring nor any concern about clean-up...just join up with other like-minded souls for an afternoon of creativity...

the details - Saturday, April 26 from 1-4 pm, at my workshop studio in Everett
$40 registration fee
there's only 3 spaces left in the workshop so don't delay if you want to join the party...

Registration info is HERE...

Cleaning up

I've been cleaning up my studio work table...when I finish a project, I like to clear the decks in the likelihood when inspiration strikes again, I am ready!  With the altered book for my sister's birthday completed, I was doing just that two weeks ago...when a few snippets caught my eye...  

I often challenge myself to create a collage with whatever is remaining on the top of my table...when the choices are limited, it seems to increase the promise of an interesting composition...here is my result...the only addition was a scrap of cardboard for a foundation...

With this collage completed, I was not content to rest...as I progress in my involvement with my online class, Photoshop Grunge, I've become intrigued with layering photographs of mine on top of scanned images of my paper collages...for a different interpretation of my original composition...so I scanned my collage and started creating version #2...

Working in Photoshop, I layered another photograph of mine (the tree in the lower left corner) and the owl image from the Rijksmuseum (did you know that you can access and use for free several images from the museum...talk about a vintage vibe!)  Additional layers for texture were added as well...giving this piece a more complicated story than the original...

I'm liking the ability to freely create with version #2...if something doesn't quite work out, its easy to remove an element...not so easy with version #1 when glue is involved!

And speaking of cleaning up...working on a major clean-up of my etsy shop...stay tuned for details...there's going to be some smokin' deals!

The wonder of nature

A late afternoon walk with the dog and the Southern Man...

past an empty wooded lot...

sitting on the edge, a piece of a branch...sawed off on each end...it caught my attention...

Two days later...walking past same lot...wood piece still sitting there...
this time I picked it up and brought it home...

I let it dry out...and brushed off the dirt...the texture and the contours are exquisite...

perfect height for a small pedestal...for a display of old clocks...or a small vintage silver coaster...

The photos I took of the side striations and the top whorls will become layered textures in future photoshop creations...but for today...I'm just enjoying the beauty of the wood...

I edited the above photo using kk texture justatouch2...and a fab new font, BDParis...font courtesy of Creative Market...an expansive design site that I've just recently signed up to receive their emails...which includes some great freebies from time to time...

Joining all the other creatives over at Kim Klassen's Friday Finds...what fab find did you discover this week?

Just one more thing...

There's just one more project I want to share with you from my workshop studio overhaul...
my first IKEA hack...

I'm always amazed when I see other's IKEA hacks - such a stroke of genuis to take a good design object and make it even better...so mine is nothing grand...but I think stands up to the idea of taking a good idea just one step further...









It started with these castors...

these plastic garbage can dollies were a steal at $3 each...bought them at Lowe's...we no longer carried the garbage can that fit the dolly so no one wanted them...I had no need for the plastic...but the large size casters were gold...and I had my eureka moment...







I bought several PINGLA boxes at IKEA...sturdy cardboard storage boxes with a classic polka dot design...I have a couple of large plastic storage tubs that hold all paper scraps from previous collage projects...its a cornucopia of treasures...you never know what perfect scrap you might find...and my tubs are legendary...people are familiar with them from attending past workshops and events...so I wanted to include the tubs in the workshop studio...but desired a better looking solution...

I thought I would attach the casters to each box...but needed reinforcement...leftover birch plywood scraps from the large chalkboard I mounted on the studio wall were perfect...I cut two pieces to fit the bottom of each box...

I drilled a hole in each corner of the wood piece to insert the pin of the caster; it was easy enough to punch a hole through the cardboard layers of the box...a heavy duty washer reinforced the area as I screwed on the nut to hold each caster in place...

After I had the bottom completed, I took a length of jute twine and wrapped each handle...the folded cardboard flap did not want to lie flat so the twine solved that problem and added extra durability...











Filled up the boxes with my paper extravaganza...

and rolled them into place under the work table...

The boxes will now be able to roll around the studio as needed and won't have to be lugged up and down or slide across the floor...a simple solution...

providing more energy to concentrate on inspiration...mmm...what can I find in here...





Linking up with Funky Junk Interiors Junk Party...featuring upcycled office storage solutions...I think this works...but that's the joy of going recycled...so many different options...